Overview

• A new federal report to the EU assesses the wolf’s conservation status as favorable in Germany’s Continental region, expanding a designation that previously applied only to the Atlantic region.
• Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said wolves have re‑established in many areas and indicated states will be able to address local livestock predation more easily.
• Officials signaled plans to place the species under hunting law and to adapt the federal hunting and nature-protection acts, though the legislative changes have not yet been enacted.
• Bavarian leaders criticized the lack of an Alpine-region assessment and said their cabinet has already moved to add the wolf to state hunting law pending federal action.
• Farmers continue to push for the option to cull attacking animals, and earlier estimates from the agriculture ministry put Germany’s wolf population at roughly 2,500.